Esther 3:2

3:2 As a result, ¹  all the king’s servants who were at the king’s gate were bowing and paying homage to Haman, for the king had so commanded. However, Mordecai did not bow, ²  nor did he pay him homage.

Exodus 1:17

1:17 But ³  the midwives feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them; they let the boys live. ⁴ 

Matthew 15:2-3

15:2 “Why do your disciples disobey the tradition of the elders? For they don’t wash their ⁵  hands when they eat.” ⁶  15:3 He answered them, ⁷  “And why do you disobey the commandment of God because of your tradition?

[3:2]  ¹ tn Heb “and” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV). Other modern English versions leave the conjunction untranslated here (NAB, NIV, NCV, NLT).

[3:2]  ² sn Mordecai did not bow. The reason for Mordecai’s refusal to bow before Haman is not clearly stated here. Certainly the Jews did not refuse to bow as a matter of principle, as though such an action somehow violated the second command of the Decalogue. Many biblical texts bear witness to their practice of falling prostrate before people of power and influence (e.g., 1 Sam 24:8; 2 Sam 14:4; 1 Kgs 1:16). Perhaps the issue here was that Haman was a descendant of the Amalekites, a people who had attacked Israel in an earlier age (see Exod 17:8-16; 1 Sam 15:17-20; Deut 25:17-19).

[1:17]  ³ tn Heb “and they [fem. pl.] feared”; the referent (the midwives) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:17]  ⁴ tn The verb is the Piel preterite of חָיָה (khaya, “to live”). The Piel often indicates a factitive nuance with stative verbs, showing the cause of the action. Here it means “let live, cause to live.” The verb is the exact opposite of Pharaoh’s command for them to kill the boys.

[15:2]  ⁵ tc ‡ Although most witnesses read the genitive plural pronoun αὐτῶν (autwn, “their”), it may have been motivated by clarification (as it is in the translation above). Several other authorities do not have the pronoun, however (א B Δ 073 ˹ 579 700 892 1424 pc f g¹); the lack of an unintentional oversight as the reason for omission strengthens their combined testimony in this shorter reading. NA²⁷ has the pronoun in brackets, indicating doubts as to its authenticity.

[15:2]  ⁶ tn Grk “when they eat bread.”

[15:3]  ⁷ tn Grk “But answering, he said to them.”